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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162693">Regretting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:00:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,106</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Peri-pandemic regrets</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Draco tipped his head back as he released a sigh. Lately, he had been regretting a lot of things, especially the last time he had met Potter. They had spent the day lounging about Grimmauld Place, sipping at Butterbeer as they celebrated finishing up the massive renovation project that had been underway in the formerly decrepit house. It finally looked like home to Potter, and Draco had been sneaky about ensuring that all cupboards had shelves, each of them fully stocked and fixed with a preservation charm.</p><p> </p><p>When Dudley Dursley had decided to publicly apologize to Potter in Diagon Alley while shopping for his daughter’s first term at Hogwarts, it hadn’t taken too long for the Prophet to go digging. It made front page, obviously. Potter had to strengthen his wards, and temporarily move to Draco’s summer house to escape the resulting inflow of owl and illegal floo calls, offering comfort and <em>help </em>with all the childhood trauma he still <em>must</em> be dealing with. A panicky post-midnight Patronus seeking refuge to make up for the life debt he was owed had landed Potter in the Malfoy grounds. To his credit, Draco hadn’t laughed at him till next morning, and had instead guided him away from the manor towards the relatively smaller cottage.</p><p> </p><p>Even though externally he had been teasing Potter about all the fanmail he got, he had been most properly incensed in the light of the information about how the Boy-Who-Lived had actually lived, to the extent that he sought out his godfather’s portrait’s advice, which, owing to Severus’ everlasting dislike of Petunia Dursley was not hard to solicit. A revenge plot that straddled the line between pranking and harassment led to constant disfigurement of her precious garden with plants growing to spell out crude words. Potter had thankfully been amused at it, possibly because he knew exactly what Draco and Severus were capable of and that this was laughably tame of them. To this day Draco thanked the drop of Felix Felicis that had made him put in his application at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes which had eventually led to a friendship with both the Weasley family and Potter.</p><p> </p><p>Draco shook his head out from distant past and moved on to the most recent – the cause of his present misery. Eight months ago, there had been news from the MACUSA about a rapidly spreading variant of dragon pox which had been puzzling the healers and the medi-wizards. But magical Britain hadn’t paid much attention to it. Unfortunately.</p><p> </p><p>It had taken less that two weeks since the news for the outbreak to happen on mainland Europe, and from there, less than a week for it to reach the UK. Overnight everything had been shut down. The floo, apparition, owl post, everything. The last day he saw Potter was the day before the Normal had changed.</p><p> </p><p>He wondered what would have happened, they’d finished painting each other’s hands - Draco’s covered in slightly shaky figures, and Potter’s in carefully drawn symbols, runes for protection, safety, <em>love­. </em>Not that he would know. Hopelessly uneducated about the written magic, that one was. But what if, what if when Potter had drifted in and out of sleep as the brush dragged gently across the skin of his forearm, leaving a careful trail of paint in its wake… What if Draco had leaned in, like he wanted to, to lay a kiss right under the drying symbol.</p><p> </p><p>Caught in the haze of his third glass of whiskey at two in the afternoon, Draco speculated, what would have happened if he had moved to catch Potter’s, no, ­<em>Harry’s, </em>lips with his. Done more than holding his hand to his cheek. He wondered what Harry’s mouth would feel like. He licked his lips, <em>would it feel like mine does? Soft, warm and slightly wet? </em>Or would the kiss have been too hot and heavy for him to process it accurately. <em>That’s fine, I could have done that again, for research purposes. </em></p><p>
  
</p><p>The ancient clock outside in the hallway ticked on, and Draco carefully placed the glass back on the table near him. Blinking back tears, he tried to breathe through the sudden tightness in his chest at how much he missed Harry. And how much he regretted not having hugged him goodbye.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Kohl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Draco had forgotten how long it had been since he talked to someone else. With even house elves restricted, he had nothing except pre-read books and his own thoughts for company. On that particular day, he ended up thinking of Potter’s last birthday. Somehow, they had all ended up at Lovegood’s flat, and when Weasley brought out the cake (an ice-cream cake, Draco had noticed with surprise) despite Potter’s original declinations for a proper celebration, Thomas stuck a smoking joint instead of the traditional candle. Everyone except for Draco had been amused, even Granger was laughing at it, and although he hated the fact that Potter had a proclivity for cigarettes, he could let it pass just that once because of the smile that followed after his lips had parted away from the rolled up package of awfully smelling muggle drug.</p><p> </p><p>The one good thing about the rest letting loose, was that none of them were sober enough to realize exactly how much Draco had spent looking at Potter that night. Birthday boy Potter who had let Weaslette apply kohl and wine-coloured lipstick on his upper lip. It would have looked ridiculous to have just one half of that delectable mouth tinted, but somehow it looked good on him. Draco remembered stifling a groan at the sight of Potter coming out of the room following a giggling Ginny Weasley. With his face looking like <em>that­</em> and hair looking like they were begging to be tugged at. On that day, he had chosen to wear a sheer black button up (which was doing crimes against Draco’s heartbeat) and a pair of emerald green trousers (Merlin, why?). When he had looked up at Draco, it had been hard to not pull him close and lick, suck and bite at his lower lip till it matched the upper.</p><p> </p><p>Potter had pushed his spectacles up his nose to hide his embarrassment. “I look ridiculous, don’t I?” Draco remembered simply having shook his head in response. But the entire night he had not been able to take his eyes off of him.</p><p> </p><p>Back in the present, Draco sat at the bench in the kitchen, with a slightly misshapen cake in front of him. “Happy birthday to me.” he whispered to the empty room, even though the ghosts of company danced around him, having bled through the memory.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I miss her.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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